The visiting El Paso Patriots outhustled the Seattle
Sounders to earn a 1-0 road win. A nice shot by Mark Rowland in the first
half proved to be enough, as his goalkeeper Jesse Llamas saved the best
of Seattle's shots to pick up a shutout.

Ex-Sounder Craig Waibel appeared as a defender, on loan from the MLS
Los Angeles Galaxy. Playing for El Paso were ex-Sounder Vicente Figueroa
and Esmundo Rodriguez, who had played quite a few matches on loan to the
Sounders from MLS San Jose a few years ago.

First Half

Seattle shot in the opening minute when Jason Farrell shouldered Scott
Jenkins' throw-in just over the bar. But Seattle couldn't generate very
many good chances in the rest of the first half. A shot/cross from the
right touch line by AJ Utush in the 5th was comfortably caught at the bar
by Llamas for his only save of the half.

El Paso didn't generate much offense either for the first half hour.
Michael Griego took their first shot in the 11th, a header from a free
kick that was pressured wide. Figueroa tried a couple of shots from wide
left, the first one hitting the near side netting and the next one overcorrecting
to go wide of the far post.

A Seattle corner kick in the 32nd was deflected by a defender at the
near post to Ryan Edwards out from the far post, and Edwards' shot on goal
was headed a yard over the bar by McFarlane for a corner.

Griego finally forced a Seattle save with a 30-yarder up the middle,
and Preston Burpo dove for the stop.

35' Rowland (?). Rowland at the arc received a square cross from
the left and touched it on, carrying the ball along the 18-yard line under
pressure by Edwards. Rowland got just free enough for a shot and curled
a beauty over Burpo at the near post and perfectly into the top far corner.
0-1 El Paso.

Seattle began a long night of playing catch-up ball with Sean
Henderson firing a yard wide from 25 on a free kick play. Leighton O'Brien's
44th-minute free kick from the right side to the far post was headed a
yard over the bar by Edwards, and Seattle went into the locker room down
a goal.

Halftime: Seattle 0 - 1 El Paso

Seattle sent in forward Kyle Smith for defender Ryan Edwards at the
half, then Kei Kinoshita came on for Jenkins in the 59th when no good chances
were happening either way. Smith and Kinoshita would take most of Seattle's
good shots the rest of the way.

The 62nd minute saw the first good shot of the half as El Paso's Dumitru
received a nice cross from Rowland and missed the lower far corner by half
a yard.

Seattle finally started attacking well in the 66th. Kinoshita was sprung
up the middle by O'Brien and his chip over Llamas appeared to have goal
written all over it, but the post knocked it back and the defense cleared
out for a corner. Craig Tomlinson's cross from the left flag to the far
post was headed just wide of the lower corner by Kinoshita. O'Brien was
open from 20 but cleared the bar by 2 yards. A cross past the goal was
headed back in the direction it came from by Jason Farrell, and Kyle Smith
rose near the far post but headed just over the bar and the ball settled
on the roof. In the 77th, Viet Nguyen got open for a 25-yard blast that
had Llamas going the wrong way, but he did well to dive back and parry
the ball wide for a corner. Five good shots in 11 minutes, but the El Paso
defense escaped with the shutout intact.

After 10 minutes without a good shot, Seattle pressed hard at the end.
In the 87th, O'Brien crossed to the far post for another header by Smith,
sent to the opposite side, and Llamas got there for a fine one-handed parry
wide. There would be plenty of added time due to earlier delays. O'Brien's
shot/cross was out of everyone's reach near the far post. A scramble for
the ball near the penalty spot ended with a poke at goal by Smith, but
Llamas intercepted at the post.

El Paso nearly scored from a Salvador Mercado's corner kick but substitute
Justin Pratt's header was rejected by the far post. Sub Luis Macias got
a 20-yard chance from a counterattack and fired hard but a yard wide.

Seattle's last chance came from a Farrell cross from the left, but Tomlinson
headed it well over the bar.

Final: Seattle 0 - 1 El Paso

The same two sides will play again in the same place, 5 days later after
El Paso makes a trip north for a match in Vancouver.